TV Bender

In this article I’m going to be as unbiased as possible. I’m just trying to present something which people can comment on.

Today “Jumped the Shark” has become quite a popular phrase around the TV folk. According to Wikipedia the phrase originated when the Fonz, in Happy Days, jumped over a shark on water skis (I always thought it had something to do with Lost and Sawyer actually jumping over a shark). Or in other words “Jumped the Shark” means at what point does a show lose all believability, or when has a good thing gone bad?

After finding out last night that Graham, the ‘bluetooth’ man that was behind the terrorist attacks in season 5, is now Jack’s brother have people begun to think that 24 has now jumped the shark? Is it too unbelievable that Jack’s brother could be Graham, or in other words is it just a ridiculous plot twist that was cultivated to woo the audience?
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Since this was a 2 hour premiere I think I’ll still split up the reviews according to the actual episode. So, I’ll just put up both my reviews for both episodes, today and tomorrow. Then we’ll start having one review a week.

Also, after each episode I will also be posting the 24 Character Countdown, where I will award and deduct points based on character performances throughout the show.

6:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m.
(S06 E01)

Well, where do I start, it was an intense first hour to say the least. America is suffering from suicide bomb attacks, Peter MacNicols wants to intern all the people who pray towards Mecca, President Wayne Palmer seems a bit spineless, and Jack has grown a sweet Charles Manson-esque beard while on his vacation (imprisonment) in China.

We’re informed that Pres. Palmer has brokered a deal with the Chinese to get Jack back. The specifics of how they got Jack back were left out although the term “high price� was used a great deal. I think it was better that way, we know it took a lot to get Jack back, and we weren’t bothered with the details.

Well, the inter-office politics, backstabbing, and whining are back in full swing as Milo and Morris duke it out. Morris has that wonderful, and by wonderful I mean absolutely annoying, stinging British sarcasm a la Simon Cowell. Already after the first episode I’m a bit tired of hearing those two bicker like little school girls.

Chloe managed to pull off her first scowl of the season in about 3 seconds after she was shown on screen. Her and Morris also managed to almost completely botch the ongoing operation of getting Assad by using Morris’s personal satellite (I wish I had something like that).

I loved the first episode though. I thought it was well done, and everything we expect from 24. Seeing Jack again was like a breath of fresh air, even though he seems like he’s gone through quite a lot with all the scars on his back. Jack’s been brought back to the U.S. for one purpose, to die. A man inside Assad’s crew has offered to give up Assad in exchange that he gets to kill Bauer. Jack knows what is expected of him and he gives a stirring speech to Bill about how he can “die for something,� instead of “dying for nothing.�

Then the tables turned are once Fayed (the man who wants to kill Jack because Jack killed his brother) confesses to Jack that he is actually the one that’s behind the bombings, that Assad has come to the U.S. to stop him, and that CTU is actually going to end up killing the wrong man.

That’s the wrong thing to tell Jack right? Yup. Because when everyone leaves the room Jack makes his move, initiating his first kill of the season by biting a man’s neck (yes exactly like a vampire) and ripping out a huge chunk of flesh (it seems that Kiefer hasn’t forgotten his Lost Boy roots). Now Jack has escaped. Terrorists beware, Jack DOES bite!

Episode 2 after the jump…
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As I talked about in my article All I Want for Christmas 24 one thing I hope to see this season is Mandy back in a bigger role. Mandy, played by Mia Kirshner, has ducked in and out of season after season. Season 4 was her biggest part in 24 as she kidnapped Tony and threatened to kill him if she wasn’t able to get free of the horde of CTU agents closing in on her.

Not even Nina was able to elude Jack as long as Mandy has. Mandy has escaped custody time and time again, and I think if given a bigger role would be able to provide quite the antagonist for Jack. Although in the end I’m sure Jack would kill her, I would love to see her back in this upcoming season.

Over the next 10 days I’m going to list the top ten 24 events that I’m most excited for in this upcoming season. It’s going to be a mixture of things I already know are going to happen, and I just can’t wait to see them play out, and things that I hope will happen.

#10. I’ll be waiting to find out if my favorite Ghostbusters villain, Peter MacNicols (Dr. Janosz Poha) will end up being a good casting choice. For some reason I just don’t see the guy doing a show as dramatic as 24. Maybe it’s just because ever since I was a kid I loved Ghostbusters. When Ghostbusters 2 came out the image of MacNicols saying “Evil� in that high, whiney voice has been burned into my brain.

Then I think back to Ally McBeal, and his insane way of acting completely unsure of himself. I just don’t know how he’s going to mesh with 24 as a whole. But, then again I thought the same thing about Sean Astin last year and he did a pretty swell job. I was glad that he was killed off midway through the season though. Though he personally didn’t irritate me, his character did. He was a wannabe George Mason without the sharp wit.

What does everyone else think of MacNicols? Given we don’t know the exact role he will play in the show, what do you think of the casting choice as a whole?

Over on Buddy TV I found a great article called An Ode to Chloe. Oscar Dahl, the BuddyTV writer defends Chole all the way. Some people hate her yes, but he gives some good reasons why she should stick around.

Personally at first I found Chloe annoying, almost like they messed up in the casting department. I think why most people find her irritating is because she didn’t enter CTU and the 24 world until season 3. Season 1 and 2 didn’t really have any comedic outlets, so when Chloe came into the picture people didn’t know whether to love her or hate her. It was such a departure from the norm of 24 that it jolted some of the audience members. They were used to watching a show that was 100% action and drama. Then Chloe came in, but at that point it was completely foreign to laugh at an episode of 24, who had ever heard of laughing while watching 24? I guess you could laugh at the incredibly stupid decisions that Kim made time and time again, but those just made me yell at the screen wishing that a cougar would eat her.

Honestly though, it took me through season 4 to really understand why Chloe was needed. What her purpose at CTU was, and her purpose for the overall show. I like Chloe. Every now and then she still irritates me with her perpetual scowls, but it’s fun to have some kind of comedic relief on 24.

Some spoilers for PREVIOUS seasons lay ahead.

Well, it’s that time of year again. Grab a piece of paper and a pen, make a list of what you want, and hope that you don’t get tube socks again.

But, for me I’d like to make a list of what I’d like to see happen in the upcoming season of 24.

1. How did we get Jack back from the Chinese? The first thing I would’ve listed, if I didn’t know better, was that we get Jack back from the Chinese. Since we know that happens, I hope that it isn’t some ridiculously unbelievable reason. Also, I would like to know, how the Americans know that Jack was actually captured by the Chinese. It’s obvious that the new President Palmer knew Jack and so when this new crisis arises it’s a no-brainer that he’d want Jack back in play. But, I’m really hoping of a good believable story on why the Chinese gave Jack Bauer back.

2. Revenge Jack is back. This is something that I actually wished for a long time ago, when I first started watching 24. During the end of the first season there’s a scene where Jack feels/thinks like he’s lost everything. Like he doesn’t have anything to live for, and just goes in guns blazing. It’s one of my favorite 24 moments. Something that’s happening in this season leads me to believe that Jack is going to pull out the little number of “stops� he has left. When Jack is out for revenge, he’s a hundred times more dangerous and deadly. Numerous sources have claimed that this season will be more about Jack saving himself, rather than the country as a whole.
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TV nowadays is very different from what it was like in the late 80’s or early 90’s. 15 years ago it was the age of the sitcom. You remember TGIF? Family Matters, Full House, Step-by-step, and even that crazy show called Dinosaurs. That was the TV of yester-year.

Today the “one-couch-sitcom� is all but dead. Serial dramas like Lost, 24, and The Sopranos rule the airways. So, what happened to create the television landscape we see today?

Back in 2001 the first season of 24 premiered. It was a modest hit. Then the DVD came out which started selling like mad. In an interview with IGN in 2002 Kiefer said that the DVD sales, for 24, in the UK actually knocked Lord of The Rings out of first place, something totally unheard of in the TV/DVD world.
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